Gabby Petito’s mother has condemned the “armchair detectives” who continue to profit from and spread conspiracy theories about the travel blogger’s killing, five years after her fiancé fatally strangled her.

Petito, a 22-year-old from Long Island, disappeared in Wyoming in late August 2021 while on a cross-country van trip with her abusive fiancé, Brian Laundrie. The devastating case quickly became one of the most closely followed missing-person investigations in the US.

Her remains were discovered the next month, and Laundrie later left behind a written confession acknowledging that he had killed Petito before taking his own life with a gunshot wound. Yet online investigators and content creators have continued to fuel baseless theories about the case.

“Once she was found, the story was kind of still ongoing,” Petito’s mother, Nichole Schmidt, told The Mirror US.

“The creators and the armchair detectives, as we like to call them — people who are trying to create these other stories, speculation, and trying to make things different than what the simple answer is — Brian killed her, and then he took his life.

“They were exploiting things like, you know, Brian’s still alive, or they were crisis actors. This really didn’t happen. You know, Gabby, this whole story is fake.

“And I’m just like, I wish it was fake. I wish that my daughter was still here. Like, just horrible, horrible things like that. And then it just kind of kept going. And it’s still today, I still see videos pop up.”

During the summer of 2021, Petito and Laundrie had been traveling through the western United States in a white Ford Transit van, sharing footage and photos from their trip across social media.

On Aug. 12, 2021, police in Moab, Utah, were called after a witness reported a domestic incident involving the couple.

READ MORE: Idaho Prosecutors Say Kohberger Is ‘Fishing’ to Bolster Plea Bid

Police body-camera video captured Petito visibly distraught and sobbing. Officers ultimately treated the episode as a mental health crisis rather than a domestic violence assault, separating the pair overnight instead of making an arrest.

Petito was last seen alive in Jackson, Wyoming, and her family lost contact with her shortly after August 25.

Laundrie returned alone to his parents’ home in North Port, Florida, on Sept. 1 that year and 10 days later Petito’s family reported her missing after desperately trying to get information from Laundrie’s family.

Her body was discovered on Sept. 19 at Grand Teton National Park, with an autopsy later determining that she had been strangled.

Just days after the grim discovery, the US District Court of Wyoming issued a warrant for Laundrie’s arrest.

His skeletal remains were discovered in a Florida nature park on Oct. 20 alongside a backpack and notebook containing a confession that he had killed Petito.

“I ended her life. I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made,” Laundrie wrote in the notebook recovered by the FBI.

Petito’s family currently runs the Gabby Petito Foundation, which supports missing persons and domestic violence prevention.

NIH plans new study on vaccine injury claims

CDC combines flu and COVID-19 teams

How changing weather affects your health

The husband of an Illinois woman charged in the death of her 2-year-old son is continuing to support her, her attorney says, despite prosecutors’ allegations that she considered poisoning him and had become fixated on the Lindsay Clancy case. Defense lawyers contend the incident occurred while she was in the grip of a psychotic episode.

Corie Walsh, 38, allegedly told police she killed her son, Barrett, on Sept. 1 because she believed the toddler was the “devil” and the “anti-Christ,” according to court documents obtained by News Media. Authorities said the child was discovered hanging from a basement rafter.

A neighbor found Barrett, began CPR and called 911. Court records state that the child was cold and had no pulse when he was located. He was later pronounced dead at New Lenox Hospital. Officials ruled that the 2-year-old died from asphyxia caused by ligature compression to the neck. Walsh was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of self-inflicted cuts to her wrists and thighs.

Walsh’s legal team said both her husband and her mother remain steadfast in their love and support for her.

Neither Walsh’s husband nor her mother attended her Sept. 8 detention hearing, as Barrett’s funeral was being held that same day.

Andrea Lyon, one of Walsh’s defense attorneys and a former member of Casey Anthony’s defense team, told News Media that mental illness was at the center of the devastating case.

“This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” Lyon said. “It is also a tragedy in that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened.”

While Lyon said Walsh was psychotic at the time, she rejected prosecutors’ suggestion that Walsh’s interest in the Clancy case was tied to the alleged killing.

“They are not correlated at all. It’s just accidental,” Lyon said, calling claims that the Illinois mother’s case was a copycat crime “baseless and cruel.”

Court documents indicate that Walsh had “recently become very invested” in the murder trial for Clancy, who was accused of murdering her three children. Clancy acknowledged she killed her children, but argued she was experiencing postpartum psychosis.

Walsh “had been actively discussing the [Clancy] case via group text message with her friends up until 12:30 PM on September 1, 2026, three and a half hours before the scene was discovered.”

Retired Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy told News Media that a psychiatric defense rarely succeeds in cases like this one, and is more common in adult cases than those involving children.

“It’s very rare. It’s more predominant in adult cases,” Roy said. “Cases like this are, with children involved, because of the publicity and just the pain it causes the community are what we call heaters. There’s a lot of media focus on them. There’s a lot of attention. There’s a lot of demands to resolve the case promptly.”

News Media reached out to Walsh’s attorney and her husband for comment.

Patrick Clancy’s new wife, fertility specialist Dr Rachel Danis, will appear alongside him during his upcoming interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, the network has said.

Clancy, 38, and Danis, 37, are set to speak with Ross Douthat in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.

In a preview released online by 60 Minutes, Douthat can be heard greeting Danis as a crew member fits her with a microphone: “Hi Rachel.”

“Hi,” Danis replies in the brief teaser.

Douthat then turns to Clancy, saying, “Hi Pat.” Clancy and Danis married in April and now share an apartment in a Midtown Manhattan high-rise.

Public records indicate that Patrick moved from suburban Massachusetts to New York City in May 2023, four months after the deaths of his three children: Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months.

The interview will mark the grieving father’s first public comments since the murder trial of his former wife, Lindsay Clancy, ended without a verdict.

Earlier this month, a judge declared a mistrial after jurors split 11-1. The lone holdout declined to find Lindsay Clancy not guilty by reason of insanity.

In a previous promotional clip for the highly anticipated interview, Clancy told 60 Minutes that he talks to his late children.

Asked what he tells his deceased children, Clancy said: ‘”Help me”… All the time.’

Clancy’s interview comes after he faced a barrage of sickening threats and accusations by online sleuths during the trial, with some even alleging he was responsible for his children’s deaths. 

In a statement through his lawyer after the mistrial, he promised ‘consequences’ for true crime creators who made the baseless and cruel allegations.

‘Over the past months, Patrick Clancy and his family have been subjected to a relentless, escalating and destructive defamation campaign,’ the statement read.

‘This campaign of misinformation has been launched and promoted by minor celebrities, so-called influencers and outright conspiracy theorists who appear intent on boosting their own social media profiles and potential profit by publishing what they know to be outright falsehoods that Patrick was somehow involved in the death of his young children and other vile claims.’ 

Clancy said at the time that the ‘insatiable media coverage’ had created a ‘fever pitch’ of allegations and scrutiny on him, while he continues to deal with the unimaginable loss of his children at the same time. 

‘(This) has resulted in real life threats to his reputation, livelihood, and life,’ his attorney said in his statement. 

MORE STORY: Los Angeles NBC Helicopter Plunges Toward Ground in Dashcam Video

‘Patrick has no choice but to address this situation – with the clear goal of stopping injurious behavior, creating accountability for lies that are self-serving to the perpetrators, and being able to return his attention to what matters: preserving the memory of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy and supporting other women facing perinatal mental health challenges.

‘Enough is enough – this spread of blatant and baseless falsehoods must stop. 

‘Those responsible should understand that there will be consequences, and every appropriate measure will be pursued to hold them accountable, including legally. Law enforcement has been notified.’

Clancy filed for divorce from Lindsay in February 2024, a year after she killed their three young children by strangling them with exercise bands at the family’s home in Massachusetts. 

He and Rachel married in April 2026 during an intimate ceremony at the historic Ladies Pavilion overlooking Central Park’s lake before celebrating with family and friends at nearby restaurant Sarabeth’s. 

The Microsoft employee and fertility doctor were brought together by compassion, optimism and a shared commitment to helping other people, friends and relatives previously told the Daily Mail.

It said the couple share a passion for exercise, with photos showing them hiking, running and working out from as early as February 2024. 

Loved ones say Clancy has rebuilt his life through faith, charity work, long-distance running and the unwavering support of his new wife.

The grieving father even spoke up for his ex-wife while on the stand during her trial, despite the killings and their divorce

Lindsay has never denied killing the children but asked the court to find her not guilty by reason of insanity, citing alleged post partum psychosis and over medication. 

After her high-profile murder trial ended in a deadlock, prosecutors are yet to say if they intend to re-try her for murder or offer her a plea deal. 

This week, it was revealed that Lindsay has hired one of the attorneys who worked with acquitted accused killer Karen Read, as she seeks to have her murder case dismissed.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.